


I Thought You Might Be Mine

by somethingnerdythiswaycomes



Series: Knee Socks [3]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: (But it barely matters), Alternate Universe - BDSM, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other, Polyamory, trade fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 23:15:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10581516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somethingnerdythiswaycomes/pseuds/somethingnerdythiswaycomes
Summary: “You know this doesn’t change anything,” Tom says, his voice rough.“Yes it does,” Zach replies quietly.“It’s like when you were in Hershey,” Taylor adds.  “Just… further.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> I still cry when I remember that Sanny doesn't play for the caps anymore so this was a long time coming
> 
> I do not represent the real people presented as characters in this fic, nor do I make any claims about what they do or do not do in their private lives.

“Thank you,” Zach says dully.  “It’s been great playing here.”

As soon as the call came through, Taylor was on edge.  It’s the trade deadline – everyone’s sitting on the edge of their seat, keeping their phones on them at all hours, starting to mentally catalogue their belongings, deciding what they’d  need if they had to leave right that second.

But that last line – that seals it.  It’s Zach.

Taylor and Tom share a glance, but they both stay silent.  Taylor knows what it’s like to be traded.  It has to be worse when it’s your rookie season, after being up and down, after…

Tom knows what it’s like to get left behind in a trade, though.  Taylor guesses he’ll have to learn.

“St. Louis,” Zach says finally, looking up at them.

Taylor nods.  He and Tom are still on the bed, sitting together at the headboard, where they’d been with Zach before the call came in and Zach went over by the window to take it.  He’s still standing there, silhouetted by the New York City lights pouring in.

“Come over here,” Taylor says softly.  Zach’s shoulders fall, and he listens right away, coming around the bed and curling into Taylor’s side.

“You know this doesn’t change anything,” Tom says, his voice rough.

“Yes it does,” Zach replies quietly.

“It’s like when you were in Hershey,” Taylor adds.  “Just… further.”

“And permanent.”

Taylor tugs lightly at Zach’s hair.  “Hey, we’re trying to make you feel better.”

Zach blows out a breath.  “Thanks.”  It sounds exactly as flat and upset and _tired_ as when he’d said it to whoever gave him the call.

“What do you need?” Taylor asks, curling his hand around the back of Zach’s neck.  That’s his favorite when he’s in a subbing mood, Taylor’s found, and when Zach sighs and sinks further into him, Taylor knows he’s made the right call.

“I don’t know,” Zach replies, hiding his face in Taylor’s chest.  “I don’t want to go.”

Taylor hums.

“You know,” Tom starts, “That’s a good opportunity, St. Louis.  They’re not as deep as we are here.  You’ll get some good minutes.”

“They might not win it this year,” Taylor says, “But they’re always in the mix.  There’re worse places to go.”

“Yeah,” Zach mumbles.  “Still not here, though.”

“You can be upset about it and still try to make the best of it,” Taylor tells him.  “Getting traded always sucks.  But it really could be a lot worse.”

“Okay,” Zach groans.  “I know.  Can you just – put me down so I don’t have to think about it until I know when my flight is?”

“Of course,” Taylor tells him.  “On your back.”

Tom clicks the tv off, and Zach rolls over onto his back.  He’s looking up at them with half-lidded eyes, so desperate to go down that Taylor knows it won’t be difficult to get him there.

“Tom,” Taylor says softly, “Can you sit behind him?”

Tom shifts up the bed, sitting with his back to the headboard, cradling Zach’s head in his lap.  Taylor sits astride Zach’s thighs, pressing him down into the bed.  Zach closes his eyes and sinks into it.  Taylor leans over him and kisses him softly.

“Do you want me to get you off?” Taylor asks.  Zach hesitates, but eventually nods.  “Do you want me to edge you?”

They’d been trying it, a little, since Zach came back up to the caps.  He didn’t need it the way Tom did, but Taylor could still see how it calmed something in him, something a little raw from his career being out of his control.  Taylor didn’t pretend to understand why they like it as much as they do; he also doesn’t pretend that he doesn’t love having the two of them spread out, desperate, going back and forth between them.

But that’s not right now.  Right now is just Zach laying between Tom’s legs, Taylor’s hands pushing his shirt up, skating over the muscles in his abdomen.  He lingers for a moment, then up to Zach’s nipples, carefully digging the edge of his nail into one.  Zach shudders and moans, flinging his arm out to the side to grab Tom’s hand and hold it tightly.

“We’ve got you,” Tom says, leaning down to kiss him.  Taylor shifts out of the way, leaning down to kiss Zach’s neck, softly, tracing down the side and to the collar of his shirt.

Just when Taylor reaches for Zach’s pants, sliding his fingers just under the waistband, Zach shivers and grabs his hand.

“Sorry,” he blurts.  “I just—”  Taylor looks at him, staying completely still until Zach can finish.  “I just want this.  Not—”

“Okay,” Taylor says, smiling gently.  He presses a kiss to the center of his chest.  “Whatever you want, Zach.”

Zach lets out a breath and relaxes back into Tom.  “Sorry.  I thought—”

“You can always change your mind,” Tom tells him, nudging his nose against Zach’s.  “Don’t worry about it.”

Taylor leans up and kisses Tom softly, then Zach.

“You want to watch a movie?” Taylor asks them.  “Or finish what we were watching?”

“I forget what we were watching,” Zach admits, smiling up at them when Tom laughs.

“Me, too,” Taylor admits.  “We can start something else.”

“Something funny,” Tom says.  “Animated?”

“Not animated,” Zach replies, pushing at Taylor’s shoulder until he goes to get his laptop.  “Funny, though.”

“Hot Fuzz,” Tom and Zach say at the same time.  Taylor throws them an amused look, but once he’s back on the bed, he obligingly pulls it up on Netflix.  He manages to balance the laptop on his and Zach’s knees, curling up against the two of them so they’ll all be able to see.

“Turn the volume up,” Tom says after a moment.  Taylor does.  Zach digs his cheek into Taylor’s shoulder.

Taylor’s trying to be conscientious, really, but after a couple minutes of the movie, Zach takes hold of Taylor’s hand and slides it up his shirt.  When he stretches out his fingers, lets the callouses on his fingers and his palm catch on Zach’s skin, his hand bumps into Tom’s.  They share a glance over Zach’s head; Tom skates his fingertips along the cut of Zach’s hip, and Taylor pets over his stomach.  Zach sinks deeper into the bed, half-in Tom’s lap and leaning heavily into Taylor, and Taylor can’t begrudge him this.  He never could, but especially not now.

“Thanks,” Zach says, and he sounds tired, still, and upset, but his voice isn’t quite as flat and dead as it was before.  It’s progress that Taylor is proud of.

“Do you think…” Zach starts, and then stops.  Taylor and Tom wait quietly, and eventually Zach continues.  “Do you think it’ll still be okay, when I’m gone?”

It’s true, that they didn’t have much time with him this season.  Zach only spent about half the season here in Washington, and it took them almost to the end of his first stint to get their relationship going.  It’d only been a scattered few weeks after that, time caught between games and practices and travel, in Tom’s apartment or one of their hotel rooms.

It was almost a trial, Taylor would have to say.  Like they’d been put through the test early – if they could last with so little time together, with one part hours away – to prepare them for this.

“Of course it will,” Taylor tells him, and kisses him gently.  “You know we’ll still be here for you.”

Zach inhales deeply, and lets it out in a slow breath.  “Okay.”

“It’s going to be fine,” Tom tells them.  “It sucks, but – it’ll be fine.”

“Thanks,” Zach sighs, and this time it’s not tired, not upset, just…

There are worse places Zach could be going, Taylor tells himself again.  There are further teams, teams that don’t really need him, teams that wouldn’t really want him.  Teams that would keep moving him up and down to the AHL.  Teams that would keep him up just to scratch him, week after week, game after game.  It’s a good opportunity, for Zach.

It’ll be a good move for him.

**Author's Note:**

> let chorney play 2k17
> 
> join me on tumblr @ somethingnerdythiswaycomes


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